Kaiee of the Air Nomads
by beta-joovey
Summary: Kaiee, a young air nomad, is having trouble with her bending in the Eastern Air Temple. But a visiting Monk Gyatso and his pupils might be just the boost she needs.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Sister Iio shook back her long sleeves and threw her arm forward, sending an ark of air flying off of the balcony. Kaiee sniffed and stifled a yawn, the repeated routine sending her to sleep. It had been a week since they're first venture into the outside world, and Kaiee longed to be back in the earth kingdom, studying a different way of life. Halay and Liane seemed bored as well, but they could at least manage to pay attention to what Sister Iio was teaching them.

"Kaiee? Is there a problem?"

Kaiee bolted up right and blushed. "No, Sister. Sorry."

Gaana giggled annoyingly and leaned back, swirling a small circle of air in her palms. "Kai-Kai's just tired because she stayed up all night long with the bison!"

Kaiee grimaced and blushed even harder. "I did not! I just…"

Liane hit Gaana in the back with a gust of wind. "Be quiet, you! It isn't your business!"

Kaiee smiled appreciatively and sank down further onto the balcony, relaxing back into her reverie. The earth kingdom had been so fascinating, and though they had only spent a month there, Kaiee had made tons of new friends that she would probably never see again. Now she was back in the Eastern Air Temple, studying the same old airbending styles and surrounded by the same old benders.

Half an hour later, the Sister dismissed the class and Kaiee set off with Liane and Halay. She hadn't gotten very far before Gaana and her friends started sending little breezes up the backs of their shawls. Liane swirled around in frustration, but Halay, the more sensible one, grabbed her by the arm.

"Just ignore her!" she hissed. "It doesn't matter, the monks want us to be peaceful. And I'm pretty sure that Gaana is failing miserably at at least _that_!"

Kaiee grinned and kept walking. It was true. Some of the Airbenders who didn't adapt a pacifistic nature simply left the temples and wandered through the other nations. The moment of happiness passed, though, as she started to reflect on her own desperate situation. At nine years old, the most she could hope for was that one-day, some far away day, she would master airbending. At least she was calm enough to be accepted at the temples, even if her bending _was_ sub-par.

She thought that the other girls had left by the time they reached the mountain bridge, but Gaana leaped ahead of her and started to imitate a bison, putting her fingers up like horns and flopping around the walkways. "Do you like animals, Kai-Kai?" she asked tauntingly.

Kaiee nodded solemnly and hurried ahead. "Yes, I do."

Gaana followed her slowly, swaying her head back and forth. "Are you going to get a bison?"

Kaiee froze and then kept on walking. "Someday, I suppose."

Gaana started to laugh and dropped her imitation. "When? As if you would get a bison! Don't you need to master the first fifteen steps of airbending to get a bison? How many have you mastered?"

Kaiee dropped her head, and her friends pushed her along.

"How many, huh? Five?"

Liane and Halay pushed Kaiee away from Gaana and over the bridge connecting the central and eastern mountains. Gaana had no choice but to turn the opposite way to her bedroom in the western mountain.

"Don't pay her any mind, Kaiee. She's just…" Liane broke off and looked down at her shoes.

"Jealous? I don't think so."

Gaana, who had mastered thirteen techniques, had no reason to be jealous of Kaiee.

"No…" continued Halay. "I mean, she _could_ be. You're so nice, and all the bison like you."

Kaiee slumped into her room, her friends trailing in gloomily. "Right, I'm _so_ nice. So why am I in here complaining? Aren't nice people supposed to forget their differences?"

Liane leaned in closely and whispered, "Um, how many techniques _did_ you master?"

Halay hit her gently and looked away, embarrassed, but Kaiee answered, "Eight."

Liane winced and Halay became very interested in the wall behind her. Kaiee threw a faint gust of wind out the window, and sighed again.

"I mean," Liane started to say, "You could always…"

"Ask Sister Iio? Unlikely. She's too…"

Halay finished all their thoughts. "Expecting."

"Exactly!" Kaiee proclaimed, standing up. "At this point she thinks we should be masters! And the other sisters are no help. They just sigh and tell you that airbending comes naturally."

"The benders from the south are coming soon. Maybe you could ask Monk Gyatso."

Kaiee smiled weakly and nodded, but her eyes flickered down hopelessly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Monk Gyatso had brought his pupils with him. That was Kaiee's excuse to why she didn't talk to him sooner. He was distracted by the ramblings of little boys and their needs. But one, then two weeks went by, and Kaiee realized that it wouldn't be long before Monk Gyatso left. On the fifteenth day after the Southern Airbenders arrival, Kaiee dragged Liane to the central mountain's peak, where Monk Gyatso and his pupils were residing.

Liane groaned in embarrassment. "Why do I have to come with you? I'm sure Monk Gyatso is very nice, he won't make fun of you!"

Kaiee gulped and continued to walk up the swirling paths to the peak. "You know I don't like asking for help with my bending! Just go ahead of me and check if he's busy!"

Liane grumbled some more, but grudgingly went up and called back. "It's okay, Kaiee, just come up already!"

Monk Gyatso was sitting calmly, surrounded by five young benders, maybe seven years old. The boys were all bald, but none had their arrows yet. Kaiee sighed in relief and bowed to Monk Gyatso.

"Sorry for the intrusion, I was just wondering…"

"Yes?" he asked happily, dismissing the boys, who stared at Kaiee curiously as they passed.

"If, uh…" she waited for the last of the boys to leave. "If I could have some help with my airbending?" she blurted the last bit out quickly, and bowed again hastily.

Gyatso smiled and stood up. "Of course, Pupil…"

"Kaiee."

"Well, Pupil Kaiee, thank you for asking. Yes, I would love to help you with your bending. But you see, I try to teach the _basis_ of airbending to my pupils first, if you don't mind?"

"No, of course not. Go ahead!"

"Alright then. The root of airbending is in the abdomen, which you must draw energy from. You must use your entire body to form circles and coils. Since airbending is almost entirely defense, you are trying to keep your opponent from getting a shot in. I want to see your primary technique pose."

Kaiee arched her back and circled her arms, but Gyatso shook his head. "Airbending gathers the air and forces it back out. You need to be ready to push the air out again. Lower your arms to your abdomen and curve them a bit less. Here, pull your right arm back in a fluid motion."

Kaiee imitated Gyatso. "Like this?"

He smiled. "Good, good. Now send the right arm out and the left arm back. And don't forget to step forward with your right foot. And then sweep the right arm up."

Kaiee had done this many times, but obliged. To her amazement, the gust of wind was smoother and more solid then ever before. Gyatso smiled, and Kaiee felt a swelling pride.

Halay swirled a miniature tornado through the room, her eyes glazing over as Kaiee repeated the same technique for the tenth time.

"See, I could never master this before, isn't it great? The trick is to keep your arms at your stomach, and collect the air, and…Halay?"

"What? Oh, yeah." She yawned openly. "Listen, Kaiee, if you want to go hang out with Liane down by the pond, there's some kind of performance…"

Kaiee sighed like she was dealing with an immature child. "You know I can't, Halay! Monk Gyatso is leaving in just two months, and I have to reach the fifteenth step before he's gone!"

"Huh? Why?"

Kaiee looked away a little. "His pupils are getting their bison's while they're here. They're _seven_! I'm nine, I can't look stupid!"

"Seven year olds with bison? Wow, he must be good."

"He is!" Kaiee said eagerly. "I'm already on the eleventh step, and we practically started from scratch! I can't believe I got this far, but you have to get out!"

"What?!" Halay said in mock disbelief.

"Oh come on, Halay, you don't care, and it's distracting! Go on, go hang out with Liane for that performance or whatever!"

"If I go, you have to get out of this stuffy little room."

"Out out out!" Kaiee said, shoving her out the door. But Halay grabbed her by the arm and dragged her through the walkways, and Kaiee secretly smiled. She needed a break.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

A huge crowd had gathered around by the pond in the central mountain, it looked like a real event. They found Liane hopping from foot to foot, her eyes darting back and fourth.

"I can't believe it!" She cried out when she saw them. "Those little kids from the Southern Air Temple are going to do a _show_! They're just seven!"

Kaiee groaned. "It's those kids? I'm sorry I came."

"Is there anything wrong with them?"

"No, no, it's just…" she was cut off the by the soft ringing of bells, as Monk Gyatso and the five benders marched onto a clear area in the courtyard. They all looked a little worn out, all except one, a bright-eyed kid with a round head and big ears. He was spinning a marble between his fingers and craning his neck to see the crowd. He caught Kaiee's eye and waved, like he knew her. Kaiee looked away, embarrassed, and made a little face at Halay.

"Yeah? What is it?"

Kaiee motioned towards the boy with her head. "That kid just waved at me. Who is he?"

"Huh?" Liane asked, looking over. "Oh, that's Aang. He's supposed to be really good, he's already on the sixteenth step."

"I think I heard about him…" Kaiee hesitated, "but he's so young!"

"They all are."

With another ring of the bell, Monk Gyatso stepped back, and the boys began to perform. First two of the not so good students did some basic forms, but still, it was smooth and strong, they're motions beautiful and unfaltering. Next another two boys rode air currents on their gliders, swirling off the balcony and doing some flips. Kaiee was impressed; it was hard to remember that these boys were so young. Then Aang went. It was spectacular, the way he swooped on his glider, sending tunnels of air around the crowd, jumping from the balcony and rising back up on just his breath.

The younger girls gasped happily and ran over when he had finished, flushed with excitement and clamoring for a conversation. Liane rolled her eyes, and when the noise had subsided, she and Halay started to leave.

"You coming, Kaiee?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, "Yeah."

But just as she was starting to turn, the little boy ran over excitedly.

"Are you Kaiee?"

She looked down at him in shock. "Y-yeah, I'm Kaiee."

"Oh, I saw you with the bison the other day. You're the one who asked Monk Gyatso for help with your bending a while ago, right?"

She blushed furiously, "Yeah…but I'm getting better."

"I know, Gyatso told me all about you. He's a great teacher, isn't he?"

"He told you about me?" she blushed harder, "Yeah, he's a good teacher. And you're a good student; you did great."

It was Aang's turn to blush now. "I'm not all that. Monk Gyatso's just really good. So…" the boy's eyes started to glitter and he leaned in closer, "any tips on bison? Which one should I pick? Are they really fun? What do they eat? Do they take training? Should I name mine Gyanai or Appa? Is Appa a bad name? Will my bison hate me? Oh my god, what if he hates me???"

Kaiee blinked and pushed Aang back to arms length. "Okay, calm down. Why are you asking me this?"

Aang sighed deeply. "Because, I see you with the bison all day, and so you obviously know a lot about them. What's yours called?"

"Oh…" she blinked again, "I don't have one. I mean, not yet. But I do know a lot about them…"

Aang looked disappointed, but nodded. "Okay, so any tips?"

"Well," Kaiee thought for a second. "Bison have five stomachs, so they eat a _lot_, but they're really sweet. No, you don't need to train them, and they eat anything and everything…you have to clean out between their toes. They have sixteen toes, so that's a lot."

"Anything else?" "You should play with them all the time, and they do like getting names. Appa's a good name. You'll have a lot of fun, and the rest will come naturally. Don't be nervous."

"I'm not nervous!"

Kaiee grinned. " 'course you're not!"


End file.
